Sammy full of praise for Sunil, Samuels

published by ikhan on Wed, 12/05/2012 - 22:09

DHAKA, BANGLADESH - Captain Darren Sammy expressed pride in the performances of spinner Sunil Narine and batsman Marlon Samuels, after the West Indies beat Bangladesh by four wickets in Wednesday's third ODI.

Outdone in the opening fixtures of the five-match affair, the Windies cherished four key wickets from Narine and a century from Samuels, which reduced the series deficit to two-one in Dhaka.

Expensive and without breakthrough in the Khulna, Narine welcomed a Mirpur pitch receptive to turn, in a total of 227 all out from the hosts. Samuels later orchestrated an unbeaten 126 in a successful chase, with 18 deliveries to spare - and duly claimed the Man of the Match award.

"We all know how important it was to win this game. The Tigers were playing good cricket, but that knock by Marlon helped us clinch the game. Sunil bowled well, we know the quality he possesses," said Sammy.

"Narine finally got a pitch that helped him and we saw how dangerous he is. Frittering away wickets after getting starts has been an issue for us, but Samuels got a match-winning century for us."

The right-handed Samuels' 149-ball stay at the crease featured 17 boundaries and two handsome sixes, bringing him the fourth century of his ODI career - and his highest score.

"I was not worried at all about running out of partners. It was a good team effort from our side. Experience in crucial situations helps as well, and that is where I was able to pull it. Bangladesh is playing wonderful cricket and we will look to step up the gear," added Samuels.

"It was a difficult pitch, the set batsmen got out at the wrong time. The set batsmen got out at the wrong time, we did not score big when the batsmen got set. Not only Mahmudullah, there were others who played well but we were 20 runs short," concluded Rahim.